Passionate Ear - Sugar Man

Primary tabs

A real-life "Citizen Dick/we're big in Belgium" story of a talented musician cum prophet who was unknown and unappreciated in his hometown, Detroit/Dearborn, Michigan. Once upon a time someone's American girlfriend flew into South Africa with his LP, and the mainly white and Jewish counterculture in the early 70s there not only enjoyed his view of the world, they circulated the album everywhere on bootleg tapes. No one knew who he was, because South Africa at the time was intentionally isolated from Western media and was, according to the hippies, in the grips of totalitarianism. Eventually the rumor began to circulate the mystery artist had immolated himself on stage. The truth was much different, and many years later, some post-apartheid South Africans finally tracked him down. He had no idea his music was ever appreciated anywhere, never mind in South Africa.